Thursday, May 3, 2007
Derek Zarda knows from experience that students in the residence halls can get a little rowdy at times.
For instance, Zarda, a Shawnee senior and veteran desk assistant at McCollum Hall for a year and a half, once responded to three simultaneous noise complaints on separate floors at 5 a.m.
KANSAN
Everything from unexpected Christmas Eve feasts and trash can hanging from the ceiling become normal occurrences when you work in a residence hall.
Upon inspection, two of the floors’ lobbies appeared normal.
The final floor he checked was in dismay. Furniture had been flipped upside down, a trash can suspended from ceiling pipes with duct tape and windows opened wide, accompanied by complaints of chairs hitting the ground four floors down.
Even though some late-night shifts for Zarda have full of “so much ruckus,” he said most nights came with good company, good times, laughs and movies. Some nights even found him coloring pictures of ducks with fellow deskies.
A close-knit bond with fellow desk assistants as well as residents was the reason Zarda returned night after night, despite peculiar hours and the occasional resident fracas.
“You have to draw the line between ‘Hey, what’s up,’ and ‘Hey, it’s my job,’” he said.
McCollum Hall is the largest resident hall on campus, a cornucopia of freshmen, exchange students, nontraditional students and many others. Zarda said McCollum Hall was like a three-wing, 900-resident home that he and his 19 deskie comrades baby-sat.
The tightly-knit McCollum community was reason in itself for staying, he said. He initially took the job because he would often hang out at the desk when he was a McCollum resident and had friends who worked as deskies.
pullquote
I probably know everyone here. Everyone knows everyone somehow.
- Stephanie Hart, Galena, Ill., junior and McCollum deskie
Stephanie Hart, Galena, Ill., junior and McCollum deskie for almost two years, said the people make the job fun and worth working.
“I probably know everyone here,” she said. “Everyone knows everyone somehow.”
Hart and Zarda said they didn’t mind shifts that went long into the night.
For Zarda, working residence hall security from 11 in the evening to seven in the morning wasn’t uncommon, performing routine security rounds and checking students into the building. This semester, all but one of Zarda’s shifts started after 11 p.m.
“The hours are what makes it a hard job,” he said. “Most jobs are eight hours a day. Problem is, it’s eight hours at night.”
At times, the odd hours not only entail the middle of the night, but also the day before Christmas.
One Christmas Eve, Zarda came to a lengthy shift that he thought “was going to blow.”
He brought a feast of Cheetos, Pringles and Ramen Noodles to work, but when he arrived, the main-floor lobby was stuffed with tables and food.
One of the resident assistants was there with her family. Her dad approached Zarda and invited him for turkey, gravy and pie — he agreed and joined the community of diners in the lobby.
“I was sitting there, eating, thinking ‘This is something else,’” he said.
Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis-Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.
— Edited by Mark Vierthaler
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